Kate Gosselin was reticent to get back into dating after her divorce from husband Jon, but almost a decade later, she’s ready to get out there.
In a PEOPLE preview of Kate Plus Date, TLC‘s newest dating show premiering Monday, the former Jon & Kate Plus 8 star opens up about moving on from her contentious divorce.
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“I don’t know if it was conscious or subconscious. The feeling of going on dates, if you put it in one word, is vulnerable, and I’ve avoided everything that involves feeling vulnerable. And I now realize that one of those things was dating,” Kate says of her reluctance to begin dating again after her 2009 divorce from her husband of 10 years was finalized.
“Going forward, I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve changed, I’ve adapted and I’ve grown up a lot. I’ve become much more self-aware. And almost 10 years later, my kids are all but grown up. So, I’m dating again — finally,” she added.
It’s not like Kate hasn’t had her hands full raising her eight children — 18-year-old twins Mady and Cara, and 15-year-old sextuplets Aaden, Collin, Joel, Alexis, Hannah and Leah.
But with the kids either in high school or heading off on their own, she’s feeling up the challenge of going on blind dates, all prepared with the help of expert matchmakers.
The TLC star explains, “I’ll be going on dates with 10 guys and ultimately I will choose two to go on second dates with.”
Mady and Cara will also be guiding her along the way, providing insight into their mom as she goes on this journey.
“We want her to be happy, all of us do,” Mady said. “If she’s happy, we’re happy.”
And while it’s not clear if Kate found her lifelong partner during filming, she seemed mildly optimistic about the process in the clip.
“Mr. Right has not, you know, ding dong rung my doorbell. To me it’s like okay, well in natural life I’m not going to meet someone. I’m not doing the internet dating thing — that scares the living daylights out of me,” she admitted. “It’s been so long since I’ve had a companion. That’s such a foreign concept to me. Before I decide to grow old alone, I should probably give it a pretty decent shot of looking around for someone.”
Kate Plus Date premieres Mondays, June 10 at 10 p.m. ET on TLC.
Photo credit: TLC
